It looks like posting a URL to my Micro.blog just includes the URL itself as a link. Is there a way to show fuller information, as WhatsApp does, as shown in this image? A friend is trying to shift over from WhatsApp, but needs this feature.
Micro.blog does not do OpenGraph expansion of links in the timeline.
Hmm. OK. It looks like it wouldn’t suit her needs, then. I do see, however, that the links did do what I’d hoped when Micro.blog cross-posted them to Mastodon and Threads, but not Bluesky.
Do we know why? I’m totally ignorant of any technicalities involved.
Manton has basically said he doesn’t like it. There’s nothing blocking it per se. It’s a way of presenting content that is not really in the control of the person posting. I think there’s a preference for the simplicity of normal HTML with normal inline links over the idea of “attaching” a URL to a post as its own entity, reaching out to that site, parsing the response for open graph stuff, and building a template that makes that look good.
The micro.blog timeline takes more from RSS readers than social media timelines.
Yeah, I mean, I, too, prefer most social media timelines (e.g., at least core Mastodon) should support rich text. I see no reason why a Mastodon timeline can’t be that way. It can/should support multiple links. In-line photos may be difficult to teach people to do it right, so the current layout of max 4 photos works.
I can see that, and can see that Micro.blog has a very specific and consistent design philosophy. It’s right for me, which is why I have returned after several years away. The POSSE posting with sharing to other sites is a big plus, even if different ones interpret things differently. I’m pretty much looking forward to Dave Winer’s dream of textcasting, but we’re not quite there yet. It’s also not what my friend would be looking for, but she has different needs and goals, and that’s OK.